Monday cup of coffee: It's been a while, hasn't it?

Sometimes the real world intrudes with a proper blogging schedule. Other times motivation is lacking. There yet other instances when there is little to write about.

This week, these forces have taken a break from conspiring against me. So back to your regularly scheduled weekly rehash of news you've read elsewhere.


Canada loses 3-1 to Honduras

No, I'm not having flashbacks from October 2008. There was a matchup of Canadian and Honduran sides this weekend at the Holiday Inn in Florida. To be specific, the teams involved was a Canadian U23 squad preparing for Olympic qualification, and the senior Honduras squad (albeit one missing a few of their bigger names) preparing for this summer's World Cup.


Given the mismatch, the 3-1 result is rather impressive. Especially when you consider that it was 1-1 at half, before coach Tony Fonseca swapped out almost the entire squad. All 21 players in camp saw the pitch at some point.

The Canadian goal was scored by 19-year old Whitecaps striker Randy Edwini-Bonsu, from whom I expect a big things in 2010.


Canada to play Argies in May?

There are rumours of a friendly in the works between Canada and Argentina, to be played in Buenos Aires on May 25th. The rumours are drawn from two paragraphs of a Spanish article about a Germany-Argentina match in Munich in March:

El plan inicial de disputar los amistosos previos al Mundial en Europa cambió. A pedido de los jugadores, la selección jugará frente a Canadá el 25 de mayo en el estadio de River y cuatro días después el rival sería Israel (en Buenos Aires, estadio a confirmar), antes de emprender el viaje hacia la concentración de Pretoria para esperar el estreno el 12 de junio con Nigeria en el estadio Ellis Park de Johannesburgo.

Los jugadores solicitaron que la antesala del Mundial se desarrolle en el predio de Ezeiza para lograr una unión de grupo y el equipo que organiza los amistosos de la selección respondió con la organización del partido el 25 de mayo en el estadio Monumental de Núñez ante Canadá en el marco de los festejos del Bicentenario de la Revolución de Mayo.

[source]

But before we get our collective panties in a knot, let us first pay heed to the words (or tweets) of some of the better connected Canadian soccer observers:

Just talked to a CSA source. Said Argentina game isn't official - CSA is actively negotiating with several national teams, though. -- @JohnMolinaro

And from the Voyageurs' own VPjr:

I don't want to put a damper on all this happy news but it has been suggested to me by someone in the know that no one should be booking a trip to Buenos Aires just yet.

I personally believe that this match is going to happen, based on the info I've gathered from a couple of sources, but apparently it is not signed, sealed and delivered yet and we all know how these kinds of negotiations can fall apart. So, for now, I have fingers firmly crossed.

What I do know is that the CSA is pushing to book two matches during this May window and are negotiating with a number of countries to make that happen.

In another post, he suggested that an announcement of a May 2nd away friendly could be expected shortly.


Roster for Canada-Jamaica

Let's talk for a moment about a friendly that is official. Canada opened camp today in Sunrise, Florida, a two week exercise that will culminate with a friendly in Kingston, Jamaica on January 31st. Here are the players involved, with another goalkeeper expected to be named later:

Player	Pos.	Team	League	Caps	Goals
David Monsalve	GK	FC Inter Turku	Finland	0	0
Nana Attakora	D	Toronto FC	MLS	0	0
Adrian Cann	D	Esbjerg fB	Denmark	7	0
Andre Hainault	D	Houston Dynamo	MLS	15	1
Tyler Hemming	D	Montreal Imapct	USSF D2	1	0
Eddy Sidra	D	FC Energie Cottbus	Germany	1	0
Dejan Jakovic	D/M	DC United	MLS	6	0
Ante Jazic	D/M	Chivas USA	MLS	23	1
Adrian Serioux	D/M	Toronto FC	MLS	19	1
Antonio Ribeiro	M	San Jose Earthquakes	MLS	2	0
Carlo Rivas	M	Universidad de Concepcion	Chile	0	0
Massih Wassey	M	FC Schalke 04	Germany	0	0
Julian de Guzman	M	Toronto FC	MLS	42	4
Dwayne De Rosario	M	Toronto FC	MLS	52	15
Will Johnson	F	Real Salt Lake	MLS	10	0
Ali Gerba	F	Toronto FC	MLS	28	15
Stephen Ademolu	F	FK Ekranas	Lithuania	2	0

The rosters for the winter gatherings that the CSA has organized over the last several years have tended towards the experimental, and this is no exception. It features 4 young-ish uncapped players (Massih Wassey, Carlo Rivas, Nana Attakora, and David Monsalve), and 4 players on 1 or 2 caps (Stephen Ademolu, Antonio Ribeiro, newly signed Impact man Tyler Hemming, and Eddy Sidra).

But it is also a group that includes every Canadian in MLS except Jim Brennan and Pat Onstad (correct me if I'm wrong), and a good deal of experience and goal scoring with the inclusion of Julian de Guzman, Dwayne De Rosario, and Ali Gerba; as well as established Canada players like Will Johnson, Dejan Jakovic and Andre Hainault.

Jamaica's roster is missing of a few of its best players, so it's not unreasonable to expect a good result from this match.